SailRacer inkDisplay, e-paper fit for a boat?

The just-announced SailRacer inkDisplay seems impressive. For about $360 you get a sunlight readable 6-inch Android wireless tablet so waterproof that it can purportedly run in that aquarium forever. In fact, the video shows it bouncing onto concrete –hey, it’s also rubberized — and then into an icy Lithuanian puddle, with the screen still running. What it’s running is a special remote display version of SailRacer, so the app is controlled on a phone anywhere on the boat while the inkDisplay can even be attached to the lower mast (somehow) like the fancy racers do.

What may be most interesting is the display’s E Ink technology, specifically the 768 by 1024 pixel, 16-level greyscale Carta variety seen on the early Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-readers. “Fantastic for reading on the beach, in broad daylight” was one rave at the time, and doesn’t that sound perfect for an instrument display?

3 Responses

I think this is a great idea. I have had every kindle they have made, and love the paperwhite screens for when I am in bright sun on the boat or on a beach somewhere. Making a marine instrument seems like a pretty logical next step.

I wonder how it will do with polarized sunglasses – probably pretty good. Even the best instruments from Ray, Navico, and Garmin have issues offset from them with polarization. I would imagine eInk wouldn’t.

Hi Steve, they don’t … I have a couple of e-paper screens in my boat (home grown) and the effect is amazing. The only problem with the Chinese e-reader tech is that the hardware and OS are not of good quality (Joachim owns the screen from this article, which are also based on cheap Chinese e-readers, and he told me he had the same problems).

If only a Carta2+ e-ink HAT was available for RPi3+! If you’re interested in my solution, ping me on slack.